


Weaved

by jeien



Category: Sound Horizon
Genre: Alternate Realities, Angst With A Bittersweet Ending, Mentioned suicide attempts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 14:30:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6332782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeien/pseuds/jeien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elef and Orion can never seem to reunite in favorable conditions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Weaved

**Author's Note:**

> The winner of my Twitter 'which fic should I write next?' poll: Elef & Orion time loops. Thanks to [Horus](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Horus) for beta'ing this at 2 in the morning--you're super great, Taks.

**1.**

“Hey, did you hear? About the winner of the Olympic Games in Anatolia, I mean.”

The whispers rode the ocean breeze and Elef couldn’t help but turn his head back towards the conversation.

“Ah, it’s Orion, the famed archer, right?”

“Yeah, the very one. He’s said to be a prince abandoned because he was born on the day of the eclipse.”

He forced himself to keep walking, ignoring the pang of his heart that yearned to be in the company of his friend. The next time he heard whispers of Orion’s name was when the sand whipped around them as they marched towards the capital—after Orion had been slain by the king’s bastard son, Scorpius.

 

**2.**

Arrows rained down on them. _I had a feeling this would happen_ , Elef thought. A wave of shields rose to protect the front lines as they kept their steady march. He, alone, went ahead without any sort of protection other than the divine presence he bore. _This could only mean one thing_. 

In the distance, atop the rampart they expected to call their burial ground, was Orion.

“To think our reunion would be like this,” Orion shouted from his position. Elef signaled a halt. “What a cruel hand Moira has dealt me.”

“You could have chosen another destiny. It’s not too late.”

“How could I abandon the call of my family? My exile into slavery had been a mistake conceived from a grievous error—and they not only apologized deeply for it, but let me take back my rightful place by their sides.”

“Just because you’ve forgiven them for the days you spent in bondage, doesn’t mean I will do the same. Move aside.”

Orion drew his bow. “I won’t turn my back on my brother.”

“You’ve already turned your back on me,” Elef said, motioning for his forces to attack.

 

**3.**

He only caught a glance of the red-haired man, but he felt his blood boil. That man had to have been the one: the person who set off the cogs of suffering. _I won’t let him live!_ Elef thought as he lunged forward to catch up with his target—but he stopped suddenly when an arrow licked his face.

He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand and scowled. “When I heard the crown prince of Arcadia had been struck down by a bolt, I truly hoped it hadn’t been you.”

“I’m sorry for giving life to your fears,” Orion said, drawing another arrow, “but I’m surprised that you show such concern. I thought you’d be pleased at Leontius’s death.”

“Did that man tempt you? Is he why you killed him?”

“It was because we were the same: taboos that had been swept aside for reasons we couldn’t control.”

“He’ll kill you next.”

“He won’t. Scorpius isn’t that type of man. He needs my strength—he needs _me_.”

His parents. His sister. His childhood, his hopes, his freedom. The man named Scorpius stole from him almost everything he held dear—and he knew Orion was next. _I won’t let you get slaughtered by him_.

“For siding with Misia’s killer,” Elef growled, cutting his wrist with his blade, “your death shall be swift.”

 _I’ll free you from this cruel world myself_.

 

**4.**

“Are you surprised?”

Those eyes that used to hold the colors of the sea they both longed for only held a frigid emptiness now. Elef saw no sign of the Orion that had given him hope, given him glimpses of freedom, given him another chance beyond slavery. He only saw the gold circlet adorned on his head.

“More so that they crowned one based off rumors,” Elef replied. Orion’s lips pursed.

“Rumors or no, I am Arcadia’s ruler now.” He raised his bow to declare a challenge. “I know not which god you serve, but I can see that the power they bestow upon you is vile. I will not allow this land to be desecrated by your filth.”

“To think that you crawled back to the hands that chained you.” Elef raised his sword, accepting the challenge. “I’ll never forgive you. What you’ve done is the worst kind of betrayal.”

“Then let the gods judge which one of us has the right to live!”

 

**5.**

Elef wanted to make one last stop before his army approached the Gates of Hades.

“I was too late to save you as well. Forgive me.”

The wordless stone, not even knee high, gave no response.

“May we meet again in another life,” Elef said, turning his back to the grave. “Know that I’ve always loved you like my own brother.”

 

**6.**

They approached the room where her throne rested, veiled by the shadows of the flames that flanked it.

“No eye has ever gazed upon the face of the goddess,” an unfamiliar amalgamation of voices echoed. “And no one ever will.”

A thin beam of light—a silver arrow imbued with fate’s power—ripped through the darkness and pierced his forehead, where the mark of Thanatos was imprinted. The god of death’s presence tore away from his body, making it mortal once more.

Elef could barely hear Sirius and Orpheus’s cries and declarations of battle. By the time Orion returned to his senses—and the cracked whisper of “Elef…?” left him—Elef couldn’t hear anything at all.

 

**7.**

The one who sat at the throne bore his face. Her eyes shone with a light so brilliant that it could blind mortal men. Elef looked at her, disgusted.

“How dare you desecrate her body with your presence,” he spat out. She remained silent and beckoned someone forward.

His eyes shone with the same dazzling light as he drew a silver arrow.

“Using my sister’s body and now making me send Orion back to the grave… How could such a despicable creature be the mother of all life?!”

The voice spoke that spoke through Misia’s lips was that of every individual that existed, continued to exist, and will exist in the future. It asked him, with absolute certainty, “Child of my son, Thanatos: have you made your decision?”

“I have.”

Thus, the heartless battle known as Nechromachia began.

 

**8.**

In the end, they were both struck down.

“Elef,” Orion croaked out, weakly reaching for him. “Elef, forgive me…”

“Orion… I—”

“Once more,” the myriad of voices called out. They felt a searing pain run through their bones—a divine fire that was slowly turning them to ash from the inside. They were both too weak to scream out. “Whether it be a hundred or a million times, the result will always be the same no matter how many times it is rewoven.”

 

**9.**

In the end, his might could never match the mother of all life. As punishment for his war against the goddess, he was barred from entering Hades.

Elef tried everything: hanging himself, throwing himself to certain death multiple times, stabbing his heart, being maimed by wild animals, ingesting poisons of all kinds—but the result was always the same. He never died, no matter how much he yearned for death.

“Goddess Moira, please reconsider,” Thanatos pleaded. “He has suffered enough.”

“Death will mean reunion,” the voice of Moira said. “I will not allow him to die and receive what his heart wishes. It renders the punishment obsolete.”

“I beg you, Mother. Please at least let the chronos be woven once more.”

“The result will be the same.”

“It will not,” Thanatos insisted. “I will not show myself to him. He will not bear the sword that defies you.”

“Why do you show him such favor?”

Thanatos smiled wryly. “More than the other Hellenes, he is like my own child. I understand him quite well. If I take away the means that motivated him to go against you, he will not seek to overthrow you.”

The voice stilled.

“Very well. I will grant my son’s selfish request—only this once.”

 

**10.**

Elef wandered the mainland after returning from Lesbos. He only felt emptiness where rage had previously been. Days blended into nights and before long, he stood at the cliffs of Sounion—the place where a former king had thrown himself off in his grief. He looked out at the sea below and let the ocean breeze caress his face. He sees the image of three children escaping on a small boat in the water and his eyes well up. _If only we had stayed together_ …

“Misia… Orion…”

Misia went back to the water. The path to her was within his reach.

“Elef?”

He didn’t hear the voice calling out to him and took a step forward towards the cliff’s edge.

“Elef, no!” Someone grabbed his wrist and jerked him back a little. Elef saw golden locks that flowed like a lush river and eyes that matched the rocking waves below.  

“Orion…”

“What were you thinking?!” Orion yelled, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. “That’s dangerous! I didn’t think you were that much of an idiot! Do you have a death wish or something?!”

“Misia’s dead…”

“Huh?” Orion stopped shaking him around and watched the way Elef’s eyes avoided his own. “Oh… Oh, gods, I…”

Elef said nothing. Orion wrapped his arms around him and held him close. He felt Elef lean into the embrace and return the gesture.

“I’m… I’m sorry that you have to go through this. I know she meant a lot to you,” Orion said, gently rubbing his back. “I know I’m not enough to fill the hole she left behind and I won’t dare to try to replace her. But I’ll be here for you from now on, okay?”

“Orion…” Elef held onto him tightly. He took a step back, causing Orion to stumble forward a little.

“Eh?”

“Orion,” Elef said with a soft smile, pulling him down the edge, “let’s go to Misia together.”

 

**11.**

Their paths never crossed. With Elef’s mind clouded by the joy of having Misia at his side, he never knew that Orion had been slain in a grand battle by Scorpius. The world outside of their miniature garden began to fall apart.

“Let’s always be together, Elef.”

“Yes, of course.”

 

**12.**

When asked, Thanatos said that Orion had been seen by the gates leading to Elysion. Elef began to walk towards the direction of those gates, snorting a little. Orion may have been kind and noble, but he was nowhere near to being able to get in. He had to hold back a chuckle when he saw the tall, blond figure leaning from side to side, inspecting the ornate entrance.

“Don’t even try—you’re not going to get in.”

Orion jumped a little before whirling around dramatically to face him. “Elef?”

“Mmhm.” It almost felt surreal, being able to stand in front of Orion like this. “You know, I think this is the first time we’re able to have a civil conversation with one another since we were children.”

“You make it sound like we’ve met up as adults before.”

“If my assumptions are correct, we actually have. And quite a few times, at that.”

“Whoa, really?” Orion slung an arm around Elef’s shoulder, pulling him close and whispering, “How many times then?”

Elef rolled his eyes. “How should I know? I don’t remember them.”

“Geez, and here I thought you had something really good!” Orion whined, playfully shoving him away. “How disappointing.”

He laughed. “Sorry. All I could really guess from what I’ve picked up was that our lives keep repeating every time the chronos is rewoven.”

Elef could tell that Orion was holding back from a ‘fated friendship’ comment. “So this’ll be the only chance we get to talk normally before things start anew, huh.”

“Seems so.”

“I don’t really know what to say.”

“Don’t force yourself—otherwise the thing that’ll come out of your mouth will just end up sounding stupid.”

“Hey!”

They both burst into laughter and as it bounced off the cavern of Hades, it made the place seem a little brighter. At least in that moment, they caught a glimpse of what could have been. They only noticed their bodies starting to disappear as they calmed down.

Orion rubbing his cheeks. “Already?”

“Looks like it,” Elef replied, fixing his tunic. “Ready for another go-around?”

“Yeah. Let’s meet again, Elef.”

“Of course.”   

 

 

 

**1.**

“Yo, ugly! Quite the amazing face you got there!”

“Hmph. You’re one to talk!”

“Pff… Right!”

As their laughter echoed into the night, the chronos continued to be woven once again.


End file.
